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MEET:

Sarah Sackman

"She's smart, direct and persuasive in her advocacy."

Chambers & Partners 2021
Called: 2008

Sarah has a wide-ranging and successful public law practice which spans Matrix’s core areas. Sarah’s work encompasses public, planning, environmentaleducationlocal government, election, rating and discrimination law.

Her experience covers the appellate courts at all levels including the Supreme Court. She also regularly appears at planning inquiries. Sarah specialises in High Court/JR work acting for claimants and public bodies alike. Notable clients include the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Mayor of London, Liberty, Friends of the Earth and Shelter.

As a member of the Attorney General’s B Panel since 2020, Sarah is regularly instructed by the Government. Sarah is a member of the EHRC Panel of Counsel. She is committed to publicly funded work and in appropriate cases acts pro bono.

Sarah is recognised in the major legal directories: in Legal 500 Sarah is ranked as a leading junior in Public, Environmental, Planning and Local Government Law and in Chambers and Partners as a leading practitioner in Planning, Election and Rating Law. Sarah is described as:

“A highly talented public lawyer, she is very bright and has particular strength in dealing with complex tactical issues.”

Sarah holds an LLM from Harvard University. She is a visiting lecturer at the London School of Economics Cities Programme where she teaches a graduate seminar on ‘Law and the City’. She also teaches at the UCL Bartlett School and has published widely in academic and practitioner texts.

  • Pearce v Parole Board [2020] EWHC 3437 (Admin) – JR of Parole Board’s Guidance on unproven allegations against a prisoner. Instructed to appear in Court of Appeal in Autumn 2021.
  • Poole v Birmingham Council [2021] EWHC 1198 – JR of Birmingham City Council’s new Street Trading Policy.
  • Rothschild v London Borough of Hackney [2021] –High Court challenge to new parking zone on equalities grounds.
  • R (oao Buckingham) v NHS Corby Clinical Commissioning Group [2019] EWHC 2080 (Admin) – Led Aidan Wills in successful JR challenging closure of urgent care centre in Corby.
  • R (oao application of Peters) v Haringey LBC [2018] EWHC 192 (Admin)Led by David Wolfe QC JR of decision to establish £2 billion development vehicle.
  • Coughlan v Minister for the Cabinet Office [2021] 1 All E.R. 868 – Challenge to Voter ID pilots. Supreme Court appeal February 2022. Led by Tony Peto QC.
  • Voloseniuc v Akram [2021] 2 WLUK 322 (Div Ct) – local government election petition for successful Labour councillors.
  • Malik v Stephen Timms MP [2020] – Parliamentary election petition for successful Respondent MP.
  • Gardner v Forbes [2020] EWHC 676 (QB) –Parliamentary election petition. Secured Secured full costs following withdrawal and abatement of petition due to dissolution of Parliament for General Election. Led by Gavin Millar QC.
  • Wigan Athletic v HMRC [2019] UKUT 389 (LC) – led by Hui Ling McCarthy QC acting for successful Respondent. Issue waswhether relegation from the Premier League justified revaluation of a football stadium.
  • Corkish v Berg [2019] EWHC 2521 (Admin) –Instructed by HMRC in Council Tax appeal on meaning of “dwelling”

Currently advising HMRC on impact of Covid-19 on business rates and instructed in:

  • Heathrow Airport Ltd v VOA (ongoing) JR re: impact of Covid regulations on business rates
  • Aceden Ltd v Bailey (hearing July 2021) – test case on valuation of office fit out costs
  • Rowbell Leisure Ltd v Corkish (VO) (ongoing)Upper Tribunal appeal on valuation of overtrading in public houses.
  • R (oao Flynn) v LB of Southwark [2021] EWCA Civ 827 – led by David Wolfe QC, significant planning case on approach to members’ delegation to officers to negotiate s.106 agreements.
  • Smith v SSCHLG [2021] EWHC 1650– intervention for Liberty challenging definition of “Gypsies and Travellers” in national planning policy.
  • Mayor of London v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2020] EWHC 1176 – led by Douglas Edwards QC, represented Mayor in challenge to Respondent’s approach to Green Belt and inquiry costs.
  • Chilton Parish Council v Babergh District [2019] EWHC 280 (Admin) –for Claimant of planning permission challenging use of draft housing land supply figure.
  • R(oao Buckley) v Bath and North East Somerset [2019] P.T.S.R 335 –instructed sole counsel in JR for successful Claimant re: planning and PSED.

Education:

  • LLM, Harvard Law School, LLM (Distinction) (Frank Knox scholarship)
  • Graduate Diploma in Law, City University (Distinction)
  • BA in History, Queens’ College, Cambridge, (First Class)

Teaching & Advocacy

  • School governor for 4 years in state primary in Camden.
  • Stood for Parliament in target seat in 2015
  • Volunteer at Toynbee Hall Free Legal Advice Centre.
  • Judicial clerkship at the Supreme Court of Israel, Jerusalem (Inner Temple
    Scholarship) (2008).
  • Human Rights training at the British Council in Yangon, Burma (2013).

Memberships

  • Education Law Association (ELAS)
  • Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
  • Human Rights Law Association (HRLA)
  • United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA)
  • Planning and Environmental Bar Association (PEBA)
  • Education Law Association (ELAS)
  • Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
  • Human Rights Law Association (HRLA)
  • United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA)
  • Planning and Environmental Bar Association (PEBA)
  • “Community Led Regeneration – A Toolkit for Residents and Planners” UCL Press (2020)
  • Equalities law chapter in Law Reform 2015, ed. Stephen Hockman QC (Profile Books, 2015)
  • “Debating Democracy and the Ban on Political Advertising”, Modern Law Review, 475-487 (May, 2009)
  • “Waste Law” with Gregory Jones, Environmental Law and Property Transactions, Waite eds. Bloomsbury Professional, 4th ed, February 2016
  • Contributor to The Law of Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions (Norris and
  • Phillips, OUP, 2011) Complying with the equality duty, Solicitors Journal (2011), 155(40), 19
  • Apportioning the costs of settled judicial review cases, Solicitors Journal (2012), 156(28), 21
  • “Planning Law Update”, with Gregory Jones, Solicitors Journal, December 2008 and September 2009
  • Assisted Lord Steyn in the preparation of the Boydell Lecture on “Defamation and Privacy” (26 May 2010)

Sarah is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to her clients, including advice and representation services, Sarah needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes her client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which she is instructed. To read Sarah’s privacy notice in full, please see here.

DIRECTORY RECOMMENDATIONS

"Sarah is great to work with. She is excellent with clients and has a really good sense of public law issues." "Sarah is good on her feet."

Chambers & Partners, 2024, Administrative & Public Law

"Sarah is a fantastically energetic, creative and committed barrister. She really fights for her clients and is super on her feet."

Legal 500, 2024, Administrative Law and Human Rights

"A junior who is well-versed in election law."

Legal 500, 2024, Election

"She is tenacious, she brings a lot of energy to the team and she provides good legal strategy."

Chambers & Partners, 2024, Election

"Sarah has a very strong knowledge and understanding of local government. She is very practical and sensible in her approach."

Legal 500, 2024, Local Government

"Sarah’s passion for her work is unprecedented. She attends community meetings and team meetings, advises on strategy, on planning appeal and application, breaches of equalities law, and has excellent knowledge and presentation skills."

Legal 500, 2024, Planning

"Sarah is very approachable and easy to work with. She really gets to the nub of the issue."

Chambers & Partners, 2024, Rating & Valuation

"Sarah is very good at going through case law. She writes really well and produces great skeleton arguments."" ""She has strength of depth in rating and valuation matters." "Sarah is very approachable, which clients like. She's very modern and easy to work with."

Chambers & Partners, 2023, Rating & Valuation

"She really understands planning law, including the wider social implications, and she provides amazing detail in her analysis."" ""She is very good; extremely lively, vivacious and creative." "Her preparation for trial, along with her technical skills and client handling, are really good."

Chambers & Partners, 2023, Administrative & Public Law

"She has lots of ideas and is a great, creative public lawyer." "She does really good preparation for trials and has good client-handling skills. She is very good technically and has a lot of empathy with clients."

Chambers & Partners, 2023, Local Government

"Sarah is extremely bright and very approachable and gets on very well with clients." "She is creative, highly intelligent, and is absolutely fearless."" ""Sarah is fully committed to delivering the best result for the client. She grasps complicated facts and history quickly, she assimilates into the team really well and is a brilliant advocate."

Chambers & Partners, 2023, Planning

"Sarah is a strong advocate with a wide range of experience across this and other areas of public law."

Legal 500, 2023, Election

"Sarah is really good with clients - personable, empathetic, warm. She writes well and has done great work on cases we have done together, marshalling complex facts and legal arguments."

Legal 500, 2023, Administrative & Human Rights

"A proper claimant's lawyer, she is pragmatic as well as having an eye on the detail and is great at thinking outside the box."

Legal 500, 2022, Environment2023

"Sarah is great to work with, approachable, and when instructed slots in seamlessly as part of the local authority team. She is extremely knowledgeable on planning and local government law, and is a brilliant advocate, both in written advice and on her feet."

Legal 500, 2023, Planning

“She is a very able advocate with very good judgement.”

Chambers & Partners, 2022, Rating & Valuation

"She has a broad practice and covers a lot of local government work." "A very clear and compelling advocate."

Chambers & Partners, 2022, Local Government

"She is very approachable, easy to work with and really gets to the nub of the issue."

Chambers & Partners, 2022, Planning

“Sarah is a very good lawyer, who is very knowledgeable.” “Very bright and has a broad public law practice.”

Chambers & Partners 2022

"Sarah has a particular strength in planning and a real feel for how the planning system works in practice. She knows the law well."

Legal 500, 2022, Election Law

"Sarah has a really good feel for local government law. She combines strong public law expertise with a very solid understanding of how local authorities work in practice."

Legal 500, 2022, Local Government

"Sarah is an impressive, energetic counsel who is politically engaged and loves a challenge. A big personality and great to have on a team."

Legal 500, 2022, Administrative & Public Law (Including Elections)

"She's a hard-working, creative and effective barrister." "She's enthusiastic, bright, organised and good on paper."

Chambers & Partners 2021, Rating and Valuation

"She's smart, direct and persuasive in her advocacy." "A good performer in court."

Chambers & Partners 2021, Local Government

"Sarah's written advice is very thorough and clear, and she is a confident and articulate advocate." "She's great to work with."

Chambers & Partners 2021, Planning

"Approachable and good both on paper and on her feet."

Chambers & Partners 2021, Election

"She is very bright, with good legal knowledge, and a particular strength in dealing with complex tactical issues."

Legal 500 2021, Administrative & Public Law (Including Elections)

"Sarah is highly driven and motivated. She is a great junior who is really excellent to work with. She is extremely knowledgeable and writes very clearly and concisely. She is also great with the clients and at dealing with practical matters."

Legal 500 2021, Local Government Law (Including Rating)

"One to watch. She is developing a formidable practice in planning law and public law more generally. Her strengths appear to lie in High Court challenges, acting (often successfully) for the underdog. She’s extremely approachable and great with clients, who appreciate who can-do attitude, and honesty."

Legal 500 2021, Planning

"One of the best of her generation, she has very strong interpersonal skills and great legal creativity."

Legal 500 2021, Environment

"She's very flexible at adapting to an unfolding situation and firm in here own views as well. She is also very good at working in a team and taking a collegiate approach." "Very reassuring and approachable for clients."

Chambers & Partners, 2020

"She stays calm when the pressure is on."

Legal 500, 2020

"She's very good, she knows her stuff, is very good with clients and writes very well."

Chambers & Partners, 2019

"A very thorough strategic grasp and a light touch" "she's very good with clients".

Chambers & Partners 2018, Planning

"An extremely thorough, confident and competent advocate. Sources predict a fine future for her."

Chambers & Partners 2015, Education Law
Matrix Chambers
24 HOUR ASSISTANCE
+44 (0)20 7404 3447
Called: 2008

"She's smart, direct and persuasive in her advocacy."

Chambers & Partners 2021

MAIN AREAS OF PRACTICE

  • Private International Law
  • Public Law
  • Education Law
  • Election Law
  • Environmental Law and Natural Resources
  • Equality and Discrimination Law

Sarah Sackman

Contact Sarah: sarahsackman@matrixlaw.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7404 3447

Contact Sarah's Practice Team (Team X): TeamX@matrixlaw.co.uk


Sarah has a wide-ranging and successful public law practice which spans Matrix’s core areas. Sarah’s work encompasses public, planning, environmentaleducationlocal government, election, rating and discrimination law.

Her experience covers the appellate courts at all levels including the Supreme Court. She also regularly appears at planning inquiries. Sarah specialises in High Court/JR work acting for claimants and public bodies alike. Notable clients include the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Mayor of London, Liberty, Friends of the Earth and Shelter.

As a member of the Attorney General’s B Panel since 2020, Sarah is regularly instructed by the Government. Sarah is a member of the EHRC Panel of Counsel. She is committed to publicly funded work and in appropriate cases acts pro bono.

Sarah is recognised in the major legal directories: in Legal 500 Sarah is ranked as a leading junior in Public, Environmental, Planning and Local Government Law and in Chambers and Partners as a leading practitioner in Planning, Election and Rating Law. Sarah is described as:

“A highly talented public lawyer, she is very bright and has particular strength in dealing with complex tactical issues.”

Sarah holds an LLM from Harvard University. She is a visiting lecturer at the London School of Economics Cities Programme where she teaches a graduate seminar on ‘Law and the City’. She also teaches at the UCL Bartlett School and has published widely in academic and practitioner texts.

Public Law

  • Pearce v Parole Board [2020] EWHC 3437 (Admin) – JR of Parole Board’s Guidance on unproven allegations against a prisoner. Instructed to appear in Court of Appeal in Autumn 2021.
  • Poole v Birmingham Council [2021] EWHC 1198 – JR of Birmingham City Council’s new Street Trading Policy.
  • Rothschild v London Borough of Hackney [2021] –High Court challenge to new parking zone on equalities grounds.
  • R (oao Buckingham) v NHS Corby Clinical Commissioning Group [2019] EWHC 2080 (Admin) – Led Aidan Wills in successful JR challenging closure of urgent care centre in Corby.
  • R (oao application of Peters) v Haringey LBC [2018] EWHC 192 (Admin)Led by David Wolfe QC JR of decision to establish £2 billion development vehicle.

Election Law

  • Coughlan v Minister for the Cabinet Office [2021] 1 All E.R. 868 – Challenge to Voter ID pilots. Supreme Court appeal February 2022. Led by Tony Peto QC.
  • Voloseniuc v Akram [2021] 2 WLUK 322 (Div Ct) – local government election petition for successful Labour councillors.
  • Malik v Stephen Timms MP [2020] – Parliamentary election petition for successful Respondent MP.
  • Gardner v Forbes [2020] EWHC 676 (QB) –Parliamentary election petition. Secured Secured full costs following withdrawal and abatement of petition due to dissolution of Parliament for General Election. Led by Gavin Millar QC.

Local Government Finance/Rating

  • Wigan Athletic v HMRC [2019] UKUT 389 (LC) – led by Hui Ling McCarthy QC acting for successful Respondent. Issue waswhether relegation from the Premier League justified revaluation of a football stadium.
  • Corkish v Berg [2019] EWHC 2521 (Admin) –Instructed by HMRC in Council Tax appeal on meaning of “dwelling”

Currently advising HMRC on impact of Covid-19 on business rates and instructed in:

  • Heathrow Airport Ltd v VOA (ongoing) JR re: impact of Covid regulations on business rates
  • Aceden Ltd v Bailey (hearing July 2021) – test case on valuation of office fit out costs
  • Rowbell Leisure Ltd v Corkish (VO) (ongoing)Upper Tribunal appeal on valuation of overtrading in public houses.

Planning/Environmental High Court work

  • R (oao Flynn) v LB of Southwark [2021] EWCA Civ 827 – led by David Wolfe QC, significant planning case on approach to members’ delegation to officers to negotiate s.106 agreements.
  • Smith v SSCHLG [2021] EWHC 1650– intervention for Liberty challenging definition of “Gypsies and Travellers” in national planning policy.
  • Mayor of London v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2020] EWHC 1176 – led by Douglas Edwards QC, represented Mayor in challenge to Respondent’s approach to Green Belt and inquiry costs.
  • Chilton Parish Council v Babergh District [2019] EWHC 280 (Admin) –for Claimant of planning permission challenging use of draft housing land supply figure.
  • R(oao Buckley) v Bath and North East Somerset [2019] P.T.S.R 335 –instructed sole counsel in JR for successful Claimant re: planning and PSED.

Education and Teaching

Education:

  • LLM, Harvard Law School, LLM (Distinction) (Frank Knox scholarship)
  • Graduate Diploma in Law, City University (Distinction)
  • BA in History, Queens’ College, Cambridge, (First Class)

Teaching & Advocacy

  • School governor for 4 years in state primary in Camden.
  • Stood for Parliament in target seat in 2015
  • Volunteer at Toynbee Hall Free Legal Advice Centre.
  • Judicial clerkship at the Supreme Court of Israel, Jerusalem (Inner Temple
    Scholarship) (2008).
  • Human Rights training at the British Council in Yangon, Burma (2013).

Memberships

  • Education Law Association (ELAS)
  • Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
  • Human Rights Law Association (HRLA)
  • United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA)
  • Planning and Environmental Bar Association (PEBA)

Memberships

  • Education Law Association (ELAS)
  • Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
  • Human Rights Law Association (HRLA)
  • United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA)
  • Planning and Environmental Bar Association (PEBA)

Publications

  • “Community Led Regeneration – A Toolkit for Residents and Planners” UCL Press (2020)
  • Equalities law chapter in Law Reform 2015, ed. Stephen Hockman QC (Profile Books, 2015)
  • “Debating Democracy and the Ban on Political Advertising”, Modern Law Review, 475-487 (May, 2009)
  • “Waste Law” with Gregory Jones, Environmental Law and Property Transactions, Waite eds. Bloomsbury Professional, 4th ed, February 2016
  • Contributor to The Law of Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions (Norris and
  • Phillips, OUP, 2011) Complying with the equality duty, Solicitors Journal (2011), 155(40), 19
  • Apportioning the costs of settled judicial review cases, Solicitors Journal (2012), 156(28), 21
  • “Planning Law Update”, with Gregory Jones, Solicitors Journal, December 2008 and September 2009
  • Assisted Lord Steyn in the preparation of the Boydell Lecture on “Defamation and Privacy” (26 May 2010)

Sarah's Privacy Notice

Sarah is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. In order to provide legal services to her clients, including advice and representation services, Sarah needs to collect and hold personal data. This includes her client’s personal data and the personal data of others who feature in the matter upon which she is instructed. To read Sarah’s privacy notice in full, please see here.


DIRECTORY RECOMMENDATIONS

"Sarah is great to work with. She is excellent with clients and has a really good sense of public law issues." "Sarah is good on her feet."

Chambers & Partners, 2024, Administrative & Public Law

"Sarah is a fantastically energetic, creative and committed barrister. She really fights for her clients and is super on her feet."

Legal 500, 2024, Administrative Law and Human Rights

"A junior who is well-versed in election law."

Legal 500, 2024, Election

"She is tenacious, she brings a lot of energy to the team and she provides good legal strategy."

Chambers & Partners, 2024, Election

"Sarah has a very strong knowledge and understanding of local government. She is very practical and sensible in her approach."

Legal 500, 2024, Local Government

"Sarah’s passion for her work is unprecedented. She attends community meetings and team meetings, advises on strategy, on planning appeal and application, breaches of equalities law, and has excellent knowledge and presentation skills."

Legal 500, 2024, Planning

"Sarah is very approachable and easy to work with. She really gets to the nub of the issue."

Chambers & Partners, 2024, Rating & Valuation

"Sarah is very good at going through case law. She writes really well and produces great skeleton arguments."" ""She has strength of depth in rating and valuation matters." "Sarah is very approachable, which clients like. She's very modern and easy to work with."

Chambers & Partners, 2023, Rating & Valuation

"She really understands planning law, including the wider social implications, and she provides amazing detail in her analysis."" ""She is very good; extremely lively, vivacious and creative." "Her preparation for trial, along with her technical skills and client handling, are really good."

Chambers & Partners, 2023, Administrative & Public Law

"She has lots of ideas and is a great, creative public lawyer." "She does really good preparation for trials and has good client-handling skills. She is very good technically and has a lot of empathy with clients."

Chambers & Partners, 2023, Local Government

"Sarah is extremely bright and very approachable and gets on very well with clients." "She is creative, highly intelligent, and is absolutely fearless."" ""Sarah is fully committed to delivering the best result for the client. She grasps complicated facts and history quickly, she assimilates into the team really well and is a brilliant advocate."

Chambers & Partners, 2023, Planning

"Sarah is a strong advocate with a wide range of experience across this and other areas of public law."

Legal 500, 2023, Election

"Sarah is really good with clients - personable, empathetic, warm. She writes well and has done great work on cases we have done together, marshalling complex facts and legal arguments."

Legal 500, 2023, Administrative & Human Rights

"A proper claimant's lawyer, she is pragmatic as well as having an eye on the detail and is great at thinking outside the box."

Legal 500, 2022, Environment2023

"Sarah is great to work with, approachable, and when instructed slots in seamlessly as part of the local authority team. She is extremely knowledgeable on planning and local government law, and is a brilliant advocate, both in written advice and on her feet."

Legal 500, 2023, Planning

“She is a very able advocate with very good judgement.”

Chambers & Partners, 2022, Rating & Valuation

"She has a broad practice and covers a lot of local government work." "A very clear and compelling advocate."

Chambers & Partners, 2022, Local Government

"She is very approachable, easy to work with and really gets to the nub of the issue."

Chambers & Partners, 2022, Planning

“Sarah is a very good lawyer, who is very knowledgeable.” “Very bright and has a broad public law practice.”

Chambers & Partners 2022

"Sarah has a particular strength in planning and a real feel for how the planning system works in practice. She knows the law well."

Legal 500, 2022, Election Law

"Sarah has a really good feel for local government law. She combines strong public law expertise with a very solid understanding of how local authorities work in practice."

Legal 500, 2022, Local Government

"Sarah is an impressive, energetic counsel who is politically engaged and loves a challenge. A big personality and great to have on a team."

Legal 500, 2022, Administrative & Public Law (Including Elections)

"She's a hard-working, creative and effective barrister." "She's enthusiastic, bright, organised and good on paper."

Chambers & Partners 2021, Rating and Valuation

"She's smart, direct and persuasive in her advocacy." "A good performer in court."

Chambers & Partners 2021, Local Government

"Sarah's written advice is very thorough and clear, and she is a confident and articulate advocate." "She's great to work with."

Chambers & Partners 2021, Planning

"Approachable and good both on paper and on her feet."

Chambers & Partners 2021, Election

"She is very bright, with good legal knowledge, and a particular strength in dealing with complex tactical issues."

Legal 500 2021, Administrative & Public Law (Including Elections)

"Sarah is highly driven and motivated. She is a great junior who is really excellent to work with. She is extremely knowledgeable and writes very clearly and concisely. She is also great with the clients and at dealing with practical matters."

Legal 500 2021, Local Government Law (Including Rating)

"One to watch. She is developing a formidable practice in planning law and public law more generally. Her strengths appear to lie in High Court challenges, acting (often successfully) for the underdog. She’s extremely approachable and great with clients, who appreciate who can-do attitude, and honesty."

Legal 500 2021, Planning

"One of the best of her generation, she has very strong interpersonal skills and great legal creativity."

Legal 500 2021, Environment

"She's very flexible at adapting to an unfolding situation and firm in here own views as well. She is also very good at working in a team and taking a collegiate approach." "Very reassuring and approachable for clients."

Chambers & Partners, 2020

"She stays calm when the pressure is on."

Legal 500, 2020

"She's very good, she knows her stuff, is very good with clients and writes very well."

Chambers & Partners, 2019

"A very thorough strategic grasp and a light touch" "she's very good with clients".

Chambers & Partners 2018, Planning

"An extremely thorough, confident and competent advocate. Sources predict a fine future for her."

Chambers & Partners 2015, Education Law